General Election Day is Friday; early voting ends Friday

Early voting continues in Georgia through 5 p.m. on Friday in advance of General Election Day on Nov. 6.

With the focus on the weather impacts of Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast, eyes have been focused more on the weather than the presidential election, however, early turnout is brisk in Jackson County as well as in Hall County.

On Tuesday, regular polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.. for those voters who haven’t opted to cast their ballot early. A reminder: Bring a photo I.D. to the polls.

According to Jackson County Election Supervisor Lori Wurtz, some voters prefer to go to their polling location for a bit of a social occasion.

Early voting has been growing in appeal to voters with balloting in advance of election day gaining favor for convenience. Wurtz said those who want to avoid waiting in lines on election day can still vote at three early voting sites in Jackson County.

The satellite voting locations in Jackson County will be open for voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 2. Sites are the auditorium of the Jackson County Administration Building on Athens Street, at the Commerce Recreation Building at 204 Carson St., and at the Braselton Municipal Building, located at 5050 Highway 53.

In Hall County, the Saturday voting day attracted a steady stream of voters cast their ballots.

“We had a great turnout,” said Charlotte Sosebee, Hall County director of elections and chief registrar. “The day was pretty steady like it has been. We had a continuous line that wasn’t long, but it was steady.”

In Jackson County, 399 showed up for the opportunity to cast their ballot on Saturday.

“We are still seeing an average of 500 voters each day for early voting,” said Wurtz, who reports at the end of the day on Monday, there had been 6,763 voting in person with another 857 ballots mailed out.

With the Secretary of State’s website experiencing some issues, there was a stretch of a 15- to 30-minute wait at some points in Jackson County earlier this week. Crediting pollworker, Wurtz said everything is running smoothly.

The Hall office recorded 1,467 registered voters Saturday. Although averaging a daily turnout of at least 1,000 early voters, the number is not expected to go down for Election Day.

“If turnout continues as it has been for early voting, Election Day will be comparable to what it was in the 2008 election,” Sosebee said.

Hall’s longest wait time has been about 20 minutes at the Elections Office off Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville, the only location available for early voting in Hall.

Barrow County has one early voting location: the Barrow County Administrative Annex at 233 E. Broad St., in Winder. Direct questions to 770-307-3110.

In Gwinnett County, satellite voting locations which are open through Friday include:

Centerville Community Center, located at 3025 Bethany Church Road in Snellville;

George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center, located at 55 Buford Highway in Suwanee;

Dacula Park Activity Building, located at 2735 Old Auburn Road in Dacula; and

Lucky Shoals Park Community Recreation Center, located at 4651 Britt Road in Norcross.